“Left My Heart in San Francisco” Donutella

I don’t like to plot out painting. I rarely know what colors I plan to use or how things are going to go. I lay down a few colors and from there, I am usually inspired or suddenly have a vision in my head of where things will go.

I knew the minute I laid down the orange on this DIY Tokidoki Donutella, that I was going to do a San Francisco theme to this custom.

I put some frosted glass effect on the front side ‘ears’, to give it that bay area fog feel on one side. Added some basic blue. Then coated it in a layer of glow in the dark aqua bioluminescent resin. So in daylight, it has an overcast feel to one side. Clear skies on the back side. And in low light, the GID brings the Pacific Ocean to life all around.

From there, it was a matter of envisioning the most iconic image of San Francisco…the Golden Gate bridge.

I just happened to be up in the city to visit Woot Bear (and to pick up a new piece from the Lolligag show by Jason Hornbuckle. It was a great exhibition but this piece just blew me away immediately. Not just because I am a huge cookie monster fan. But the overall quality and attention to detail…..I knew I had to add this to my collection. To see more of his work @hornbuckle8 on instagram)

Across the street from Woot Bear and up the block was a vacant shop window with mixed media art on display. I don’t remember the name of the artist but a painting of the Golden Gate with the bridge in 3-d wire bursting from the canvas gave me an idea. I returned home with a picture in my head…

As soon as it started to take shape though, I was instantly regretting the direction it was headed. I played it out, going beyond the picture above. I thought this was my Bob Ross moment (when I was a kid watching Bob Ross paint, I always hated when he would suddenly ruin a picturesque painting by adding a barn. I always thought no, you’re ruining it! Only to be happy with the decision when he was all finished. So anytime I think I may have made a mistake, I keep plugging away a few steps more just to make sure it isn’t a Bob Ross moment).

This was not a Bob Ross moment. I hated the way it was coming out. The towers for the bridge didn’t look right. The wiring looked too busy. So I scraped it all and started over. I saw the bridge wrapping around the piece and immediately thought of a heart. And that is how Left My Heart in San Francisco took final shape….

The Glow Effect just stepping inside the houseClose up of the heart wire workOverhead view showing the scale of the copper wire wrapFull frontal